A Gentlemen’s Disagreement

Episode 81 - The Ukraine war at one year with Dan Fishman

With Russia's invasion of Ukraine reaching the one year mark this week, we decided to take stock of where that conflict stands. We discussed the U.S. involvement thus far, the current domestic and global opinions of that involvement, and how the conflict might conclude. We are joined for that discussion by Dan Fishman, the former executive director of the Libertarian Party, the former executive director of People for Liberty, and currently of Let.Live (5:10-1:10:25).

Episode 80 - A draft of the most significant dates in U.S. history

We are back with our third annual Presidents Day Mount Rushmore-style snake draft. We are joined for the draft, once again, by our friends Dan Gonzalez and Joe Webster, and this year we are drafting the most significant dates in U.S. history. A really fun episode for any lovers of U.S. history.

Episode 79 - It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s...a balloon?

We begin by discussing the big story of the week: the U.S. shooting down the alleged Chinese spy balloon, as well as three other unidentified objects (2:57-25:39). We then share our thoughts on Biden's State of the Union address (25:44-44:11), and reflect on the terribly tragic earthquake in Turkey and Syria (44:19-51:27).

Episode 78 - A conversation with former Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift

We are joined this week by former Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift (3:03-1:22:03) for a wide-ranging conversation about education, her time in the Massachusetts Senate, as Lieutenant Governor, and, ultimately, as an historic Governor, and what she has been up to since leaving office. 

Episode 77 - Looking back on January

Ricky is back from India, and we have a lot to talk about. We begin by discussing George Santos (9:40-21:50) and then move into the drama surrounding the election of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House (21:50-34:35). We next talk about the latest in recurring tragedies including gun violence, police brutality, and antisemitism (34:40-51:55) before wrapping up by considering the U.S. reaching its debt ceiling (51:55-59:50) and the U.S. decision to send tanks to Ukraine (59:50-1:08:00).

 

Episode 76 - The changing of the guard with Jacquetta Van Zandt

We are joined this week by Jacquetta Van Zandt (5:50-55:11) to discuss all things Massachusetts politics. Jacquetta is a veteran of many campaigns at the local, state, and federal levels, and currently comments on Massachusetts politics on both her own podcast and on television. We reflect on the past eight years in Massachusetts under the outgoing Baker administration, preview the next four years under the incoming Healey administration, and analyze Mayor Wu's first year as the mayor of Boston, among other topics.

Episode 75 - A mile wide and a mile deep: analyzing the economy with Matthew Knych

We kick off 2023 by trying to get a handle on the current state of the economy and trying to figure out where it might head this year. We are joined for that discussion by Matthew Knych (3:44-1:00:53) who provides his knowledge of and experience in the business and housing spaces to our analysis. 

Episode 74 - The Top Stories of 2022

In our final episode of the year, we each give our top five stories that defined 2022.

Episode 73 - Unions & the labor movement with Rand Wilson

We are joined this week by Rand Wilson, who has spent forty years working in the labor movement. We discuss how unions and the labor movement have evolved during his time in them and what recent developments in those areas mean. We also discuss how the long fall and recent rise in working class power has affected political dynamics in the United States over the past forty years. Finally, we look ahead to see how the domestic labor movement can intersect with global issues like climate change and immigration to affect positive change in each of these areas.

Episode 72 - Six in Sixty: Warnock, Sinema, Primaries, Marriage, Griner, Trump

With so many subjects worth discussing this week, we went back to our six topics in sixty minutes format where we hit each topic in a (roughly) ten minute segment. Those topics were Senator Warnock's victory in the Georgia runoff election (5:30-15:48), Senator Sinema's change in party affiliation (15:53-23:32), the proposed shakeup in the Democratic Presidential Primary calendar (23:37-35:01), Congress passing the historic Respect for Marriage Bill (35:06-45:52), Brittney Griner's return from captivity (45:57-55:10), and President Trump's latest controversy (55:15-1:01:41).